Glengarry Glen Huck

I never liked Huckleberry Hound.  I didn’t like most of the Hannah-Barbera cartoons.  It bothered my child brain that Yogi Bear could run miles and miles and still have the same background behind him.  I had no way of knowing that animation was slouching toward the Dark Ages where a frame saved was a penny earned.  It broke my heart to watch Tom and Jerry so poorly drawn, looking as middle aged and unfunny as my parents.

But, as with Bil Keene and Family Circus, what strange, Lynchian, existential lessons lurk in Huckleberry Hound At The Fire Station?  It’s as if Mamet moonlighted for Peter Pan Records.

Huck is a loser at the beginning of the story and he’s a loser at the end of it.  Oh.  Yeah.  Should have said “spoiler alert” first.  In between, he lies, is an accessory to arson and destroys a fire truck.  Like the banking and auto industry, he expects to get treated like a hero for doing his job badly.  Unlike the banking and auto industry, he gets thrown out on his ass.

My mom always said watching too many cartoons would mess me up.  Perhaps she was right.

Download Huckleberry Hound At The Firestation

Picture Credit - http://www.gunaxin.com/

Comments

[phillyradiogeek]

I'm a proud defender of HB, at least in their early years. Those cartoons brought years of joy to this child. So what if the animation wasn't on par with Disney features or Warner Brothers shorts. Few TV programs of any kind at that time had the budget to create something on a cinematic level. HB did the best with what they could, and I think they did it beautifully. Raise a glass for Yogi and Booboo, for Quick Draw McGraw, and of course, Huckelberry Hound. Huzzah!

[doomsday fartshadow]

not only were so many of that era animated beyond poorly, but had pointless, moral-less meandering and often depressing story lines with no satisfying conclusion. like they were written by some angry drunk that knew he was getting canned. perhaps -as often as i am one myself- i should respect the angry craftsman that were possibly retaliating against a cropped budget by making the worst cartoons ever...but i just cant. most any programs that require a laughtrack to remind you what was supposed to be funny is doing something fundamentally wrong.

[K]

You know, I was pretty sure at the beginning that Huck had a good title VII discrimination suit cooking against that firehouse. Then he put on the black face and I was all WTF?

[Paul]

K, that is a damn fine point and I wish I'd thought of it!

[Andrew]

I'd like to know what happened to the fire chief who said, "Yeah, let's let the DOG drive the fire truck"...

[HowdyDodad]

Well written first paragraph Hbee. I couldn't have expressed my own somewhat nebulous dislike and unease with HB myself.

[Jeffrey F]

It's Huckleberry fun- it's not for everyone!

[DefChef]

Hey "Doomsday Fartshadow" - you gotta remember that TV isn't a meritocracy, it's a popularity contest. Whatever gets the most eyeballs is what's gonna get made, and the people who are actually doing the grunt work of making it (writers, directors, etc...) don't get free reign to punch it up with all kinds of highbrow witticisms. If you think the people behind HH - or even the people behind "Small Wonder" - made stoopid shows because they were too stoopid to know better, we'll then you're pretty stoopider than either one!

I respect HH (and most of the HB carton canon) precisely because they were able to twist their austere budgets and lowbrow themes into the kind of existential weirdness being celebrated here. No doubt some (most?) of it comes from doing everything on the cheap and in a rush, but I know there's a few kernels of slyly subversive commentary planted throughout.

[Nick]

Who are you people that don't like Hannah Barbera cartoons?

[Eric The F]

Who in the world leaves a BUCKET of gasoline just lying around?

[Jock Stallion]

Hilarious. It sounds like they got someone other than the actual narrator to say the word "neighbourhood" in the first minute or so of this story.